News
On a day when millions of Americans are reluctantly paying their taxes, two Portland real estate brokers filed a lawsuit (PDF) against the City of Portland, claiming that a 2008 City ordinance illegally imposed a business license tax on them — and by extension, the 3,000 or so other brokers who do business in Portland. The two, Beth Proctor (who works for Windermere Cronin & Caplan) ...
More

News
Here's a question: Would you pay a tax on soda, soap and toilet paper if you knew the money would go toward fixing "corroded pipes and overburdened sewer systems" nationwide? We ask because U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) is co-sponsoring a bill that would create an infrastructure fund to tackle those repairs. And the funding mechanism that Blumenauer and other sponsors want to tap in what ...
More

News
Gov. Ted Kulongoski signed two controversial tax increases today, setting in motion a process that will probably lead referrals of both measures to the January ballot. The bills — one of which raises the state's corporate income tax, the other increases the state income tax on the wealthiest Oregonians — have been on the governor's desk since the Legislature adjourned June 29. In ...
More

News
One of the biggest players in the current battle over two 2009 income tax hikes is the Oregon Business Association. Some members of the moderate business group's board pushed for it to oppose the permanent tax increases that appear headed for referral to the January ballot. But sources familiar with the internal OBA debate say that Intel, Oregon's largest private sector employer and an OBA member, ...
More

News
No big surprise here, but it is now official: Oregon voters will be deciding in January whether to overturn permanent increases in the income tax on wealthy state residents, and in the minimum tax paid by corporations. Oregon Secretary of State Kate Brown announced today that anti-tax groups gathered enough signatures to refer the increases passed by the 2009 Oregon Legislature to the Jan. 26 ...
More

News
This Tuesday, Jan. 5, is the final day for first time Oregon voters to register to vote in the Jan. 26 statewide special election. On the ballot are two questions, Measures 66 and 67, both of which concern taxes. Measure 66 deals with personal income taxes and Measure 67 addresses corporate income taxes. (Check out next week's print newspaper for more.) If you need to register there are a few ...
More